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Posted: 3/5/2006 4:08:54 PM EDT
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Sorry if I don't use the proper terms, I'm a total newb. I bought a used Bushmaster last weekend. The first time I took it out everything worked perfect. This Friday I got some Wolf ammo in the mail with my new mags and my new 6 pos stock. I installed the stock, seemed pretty easy. I took the AR out again today and for about the first 100 rounds or so things went smooth. Then It jammed to the point I had to use my cleaning rod down the barrel to get it to eject the spent round. That happened multiple times today. That was the first problem. The second thing that happened multiple times was that the bolt wouldn't push the next round into the chamber. It would move the round maybe a 1/4" toward the chamber then just stop. Since I was using a bunch of new mags, the new butt stock, and the Wold ammo...I didn't know what to attribute it to. I wondered if it was binding the round during eject like the above bind but not fulling locking the bolt but taking away some of it's force for chambering the next round. I was kind of thinking the ammo then I wondered about the spring on the new stock not being heavy enough. I dunno, any thoughts? -Kid |
Wolf ammo WILL do this to almost any AR, especially with a new one. it is the price you pay when shooting low quality ammo. the bottom line is if you are going to shoot wolf, bring a sturdy rod. also, you may want to shoot 500 rounds or so of good, hot ammo (XM193 or Black Hills 55gr.) to break in your chamber. it should also be noted that i've noticed a trend with bushmaster recently where their chambers are a little on the tight side. i believe your feeding issues are either magazine related or, more likely, because your carrier and upper are still new and they haven't worn in together which adds a little friction, which slows down the return stroke of the carrier and bolt. this is yet another reason to shoot hot ammo initially (also make sure you clean out that grey factory coating commonly found inside new upper receivers) . for a new rifle i always do two things: 1) upgrade to a wolff (no relation to the ammo mfg.) extra power extractor spring. 2) break in the chamber with quality ammo. YMMV. good luck.
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Shooting coated case ammo in the AR rifles does require a bit of foresight on the shooters part. First off, the coating will scrap off the case in tiny amounts and becomes powderized fouling (think of it as trace amounts of graphite). As this powderized fouling builds up in the chamber, the spent case is more surfaced tensioned bound to the chamber walls, and it this additional tension/fouling binding is strong enough, it will either cause the B/C's inertia to be slowed/lost to the point that the rifle will short stoke, or even worse, the case is stuck in the chamber. Like gun powder fouling in the rifle, CLP will help to prevent the case coating powderized fouling to build to the point that it will cause cycling problems in the rifle. Starting with all the upper bearing surfaces coated with a light coat of CLP, the rifle should perform without problems for several hundred of rounds. But depending on the rifle/chamber, you may find that pulling the B/C every 200 rounds to apply a fresh coat of CLP to it, then working the CLP coated BC in the action a few times to all it to migrate threw the action, will solve most of the problems assisted with the coated ammo problems in the AR rifles. Next step to remember is that CLP or any other copper solvent will not dissolve or break down Polyurethane or lacquer. To remove this type of fouling, it must be scrubbed out when cleaning the rifle. Note: Acetone will dissolve these coatings, but will also dissolve the plastic parts use on the rifle as well. To sum it up, the rifle should be cleaned and lubed with CLP only, and when copper solvents are used to clean the bore, these solvents should be flushed from the rifle to prevent them and the CLP to mix; leading to a gummy mess that will only collect fouling even faster. |
If the rifle ran fine before, then started acting up even when cleaned, it may be time to conform that the carrier key screws are still tight (35 in lbs). |
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Also check to see that your gas ring gaps are not lined up, or close to being lined up. BUY if your having to drive the spent rounds out I would get a sizing die. You can check the rounds to see if they are ok. I had a SA battle pack that easily 30% of the cases would not fit into a sizing die. If a round that fits the die still wont eject try looking for burs in your chamber. BUY QUALITY AMMO |
This is a huge misconception, When the rifle is fired, the gas rings will be in motion/rotation, and at any given time the rings splits may line up, or be non-aligned. Simple put, I have completely lost a gas ring off the bolt of a rig, and it still ran with out problems on only the two. |
Weird ,I guess though thats why the military teaches you that the first think to check for if your short stroking is to make sure your rings arent lined up???????? Then maybe to much grease/lube? Then why are you susposed to stagger the rings? If it does not matter? (To make sure as they rotate the chances of them lining up is slim. ) I've also read somewhere that it doesnt matter, but its hard to see why the Military teaches that for no reason. Ever tried to line them up and see what it does? I have one piece in my but will have to find my 3 singles and try it. Have you ever tried it? Are you just speaking from hearsay |
Dude, You’re a funny guy!!!!!! I burn to the ground more firearms in a good year than you might own in a lifetime (no-joke). There is nothing Hearsay about anything that I post in this forum, and most of the time, it's more of a teaching/trouble shooting through lessons learned by my own experiences and mistakes. |
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I shoot tons of crap ammo, mostly Monarch, some Wolf, and whatever I can get for under $4 and preferably closer to $3. Went through about 400 rounds w/i incident. Anyway, a couple of thoughts. 1. When you say"cleaned the chamber" you are talking about using a chamberbrush and not just a swab, right? 2. Make sure that the gas key isn't dragging on the gas tube and that there aren't any leaks around the gas key. Does the gas key wiggle or is it tight on the carrier. 3. Might not hurt to remove the front sight base and clean out the gas port on the barrel. 4. "A wet rifle is a happy rifle." Use something a little heavier than CLP in the upper so it stay's in place. I've used a gun grease on the 4 long "bearing surfaces" of the bolt carrier and ran the rest of the carrier dry without incident. Lately, I've used Honda HP4 synthetic lately and like it so far. Miltech may be better. 5. A tip that I didn't know about CLP. It's componenets can separate in the bottle. Shake well before using. Yea, I didn't RTFM when I started using it. 6. The the buttstock come with its own buffer tube? Is the new buffer tube properly lined up with the lower? I'm wondering whether the bolt carrier is binding up a little in the buffer tube keeping the bolt from stripping a round properly. 7. Is the barrel the stock Bushy barrel and marked for 5.56 and not .223? This is just a WAG. 8. From what I've heard, some rifles work fine with the ring gaps lines up. I've not tried it although invariably mine usually wind up lined up. I got a one piece ring because I don't want to have to worry about it. Randall |
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Mototard, Others, and myself have proven that the alignment of the gas rings has no effect on the rifle functioning or not, time and time again, threw live fire testing. If you feel that we are wrong in our conclusions, by all means, prove our finding incorrect through your own testing. I apologies if you construed my post as a slam (it was not), and I should have waited for when I had more time to re-proof my post to confirm that the humor used, was not too dry or off-key. Now on the other hand, as dry as the opening joke line was, your response was quite over the top, and I suggest that you check your fire. Failure to do so with me, or other moderators will end with results that will not be to your liking. ________________________________ Zmanzman, Take a look at this thread since your problems may be steaming from residual Polyurethane powderized fouling still remaining within the camber if in fact the key to carrier leak or gas system leak is not the problem. http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=66&t=273132 |
CLP doesn't separate. The stuff that settles is PTFE. Some CLP formulas are starting to phase out the PTFE so you may not find any. |
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